金牛T星与欣德变光星云

2022年2月10日

T Tauri and Hind’s Variable Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Dawn Lowry, Gian Lorenzo Ferretti, Ewa Pasiak and Terry Felty

Explanation: The star with an orange tint near top center in this dusty telescopic frame is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Next to it (right) is a yellow cosmic cloud historically known as Hind’s Variable Nebula (NGC 1555). About 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and the Taurus molecular cloud, both star and nebula are seen to vary significantly in brightness but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of the intriguing region. T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young (less than a few million years old), sun-like stars still in the early stages of formation. To further complicate the picture, infrared observations indicate that T Tauri itself is part of a multiple system and suggest that the associated Hind’s Nebula may also contain a very young stellar object. The well-composed image spans about 8 light-years at the estimated distance of T Tauri.

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space

金牛T星与欣德变光星云
影像提供与版权: Dawn Lowry, Gian Lorenzo Ferretti, Ewa Pasiak and Terry Felty

说明: 在这幅满是尘埃的望远镜影像里，中上方带着橙红色泽的恒星名为金牛T星，它同时也是T型变星这个恒星分类的原型星。它右方附近的泛黄尘埃云，则是欣德变光星云（NGC 1555）。这两个座落在本地泡和金牛分子云交界处的天体，离我们约有650光年远；它们的亮度都有明显的变化，不过不一定同步，因此让这个本来就很有趣的区域，变得更神秘难解。T型变星通常是处在恒星形成早期阶段，年龄不到数百万年的年轻类太阳恒星。而红外光波段的观测使问题更加复杂难解，因为观测结果显示，金牛T星是一个多星系统的成员，而这也暗示它附近的欣德变光星云，内部或许藏着非常稚龄的星体。依金牛座T星的距离来换算，这幅构图佳妙的影像大约涵盖了8光年的区域。 （T Tauri 金牛T星；Hind’s Variable Nebula 欣德变光星云）

明日的图片: pixels in space